Learning the Landscape through Language: place-names and childhood education

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English place-names arose as descriptive labels, in many cases coined hundreds or thousands of years ago, by local people describing their environment in ways that would have been meaningful to anyone else who happened to experience that landscape at that time. They contain references to topography and land-use, animals and plants, individuals and communities, activities and occupations, myths and memories, preserving earlier perceptions of a locality. They are a source of very detailed evidence on the changing landscape and, unlike many other sources, are ubiquitous and were bestowed by all sections of society, not just the literate or the powerful.The Place-Names of Shropshire project (2013-16) engaged with a range of adult stake-holders through a travelling exhibition, a free booklet and public lectures. Learning the Landscape through Language will extend the impact generated from the earlier project to entirely new stake-holder groups, by engaging with schoolchildren and child educators. It will do this through a number of connected approaches, using innovative methods to bring place-names into the classroom and other educational environments. The main focus will be Key Stage 2, which emphasises the many phases of British history through local study, an approach to which place-names are ideally suited; but the use of place-names within the school curriculum could extend well beyond that age group.The project will collaborate with local heritage organisations, working with their wider schools outreach networks. It will build on their established relationships with schools, schoolteachers and other educators, with the aim of developing ways to use place-names in existing educational programmes and curricula, and devising new learning materials and experiences with a focus on place-names.The project team will organise four training and development days, where local educators will be introduced to place-names as a tool in understanding the development of language, landscape and community, with additional focus on best practice. During these events, local teachers will advise the project team on ways to enhance teaching provision through use of place-names, at KS2 and beyond, and will start to develop their own teaching materials for use in the classroom or in other educational contexts. The delivery of this new content will be observed by the project Engagement Fellow and any materials produced will be shared and made available to others.The project team will start to build up a collection of innovative learning materials, new lesson plans and possible projects, with content focused on place-names. These will be made freely available as downloadable PDFs on the Institute for Name-Studies website, with links to the resources from educational groups in Shropshire, some of which also have a national presence: Shropshire Hills AONB Partnership, for example, has links with other AONB Partnerships, Historic England and the National Trust.During the lifetime of the project, the team will work with the School of Education at the University of Nottingham, to explore ways of introducing place-names as a learning tool for trainee teachers. Teachers not directly involved in the project will have access to the its learning resources, made available on the University of Nottingham website and publicised through project partners and their contacts.The legacy of the project will be changed teaching practice in Shropshire and beyond, greater use of place-name material as an educational tool, and a more widespread understanding, among schoolchildren, of the significance of place-names. This will be sustained through:- Provision of resources for teachers and children- Increased expertise in place-names among teachers- Continuing education of teachers through links with Nottingham's School of Education.